Guatemalan prosecutors want 40 years in prison for investigative journalist 'Chepe'
written by Simona Carnino
Location
GUATEMALA CITY
Published on
June 7, 2023
Outside the Guatemala City courthouse, someone shouts: “Fuerza Zamora, Fuerza!” The voice came from somewhere behind a cab and disappeared like an echo.
José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, known as Chepe, aged 66, a Guatemalan journalist recognized nationally and internationally for hundreds of investigations against corruption in the country, smiles and tries to look past the cordon of prison guards escorting him, looking for the person who shouted those words of encouragement. His bony hands, locked in a pair of handcuffs, are clutching a folder of documents and the glasses he had put on and taken off countless times as he listened to the prosecutor’s indictment on May 30 that asked for him to be sentenced to 40 years in prison for money laundering to the tune of about €35,000, blackmail and influence peddling, in a hearing before Judge Oly González, head of the Eighth Criminal Sentencing Court of the Guatemalan justice system.
Forty years is the maximum possible sentence for these alleged crimes, in aggravated form due to the addition of a charge of contempt against Rafael Curruchiche, director of the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity (FECI) and in charge of the investigation in Zamora’s case, and Consuelo Porras, attorney general of the same institution – two controversial figures who have been included by the U.S. State Department on the list of foreign persons who “through their significant corruption, efforts to obstruct investigations into corruption, and undermining of democratic processes and institutions, weaken the ability of governments in the region to respond to the needs of their citizens, contributing to irregular migration and destabilizing societies.”
For his part, Zamora denies all charges, stressing that he had nothing to do with the crimes the prosecution is trying to pin on him. He is backed by defense attorney Joel Reyes, who recently took over his defense after the first three attorneys were dismissed for obstruction of justice. “The prosecutor’s demands are crushing,” Zamora said. “I have never laundered money and the evidence is there, it’s just not being taken into account. In this country, they don’t give out 40 years in prison even for serious drug trafficking crimes. This is about a real intention to hit me and destroy me.”
More:
Outside the Guatemala City courthouse, someone shouts: “Fuerza Zamora, Fuerza!” The voice came from somewhere behind a cab and disappeared like an echo.
José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, known as Chepe, aged 66, a Guatemalan journalist recognized nationally and internationally for hundreds of investigations against corruption in the country, smiles and tries to look past the cordon of prison guards escorting him, looking for the person who shouted those words of encouragement. His bony hands, locked in a pair of handcuffs, are clutching a folder of documents and the glasses he had put on and taken off countless times as he listened to the prosecutor’s indictment on May 30 that asked for him to be sentenced to 40 years in prison for money laundering to the tune of about €35,000, blackmail and influence peddling, in a hearing before Judge Oly González, head of the Eighth Criminal Sentencing Court of the Guatemalan justice system.
Forty years is the maximum possible sentence for these alleged crimes, in aggravated form due to the addition of a charge of contempt against Rafael Curruchiche, director of the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity (FECI) and in charge of the investigation in Zamora’s case, and Consuelo Porras, attorney general of the same institution – two controversial figures who have been included by the U.S. State Department on the list of foreign persons who “through their significant corruption, efforts to obstruct investigations into corruption, and undermining of democratic processes and institutions, weaken the ability of governments in the region to respond to the needs of their citizens, contributing to irregular migration and destabilizing societies.”
For his part, Zamora denies all charges, stressing that he had nothing to do with the crimes the prosecution is trying to pin on him. He is backed by defense attorney Joel Reyes, who recently took over his defense after the first three attorneys were dismissed for obstruction of justice. “The prosecutor’s demands are crushing,” Zamora said. “I have never laundered money and the evidence is there, it’s just not being taken into account. In this country, they don’t give out 40 years in prison even for serious drug trafficking crimes. This is about a real intention to hit me and destroy me.”
More:
https://global.ilmanifesto.it/guatemalan-prosecutors-want-40-years-in-prison-for-investigative-journalist-chepe/